Fuel feeding apparatus



1931- M. A. HOFFT ET AL L 1,835,989

I FUEL FEEDING APPARATUS 'Filed Jan. 29, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 R INVENTOR. v t [Vault/611. Hofft, Mm ZPackez't and I'Valter M. 50!:1'166, BY

ATTORNEYS Dec. 8, 19 M. HOFFT ET AL 1,835,989

FUEL FEEDING APPARATUS I Filed Jan. 29, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTOR. Maurwed.Ha/ft, Nivk T. Pucks i t and WalterM. Souire,

A TTORNEY5 Patented Dec. 8, 1931 MAURICE A. HOFFT, NICE '1. PUOKETT,

INDIFANA, ASSIGHOB$ TO THE M. A. EOFF'I.

urn Wm 11. swim, or imamxaroms,

comm, A coiu'om'rron or INiDiAN'A m1. rrmnme gmrm'rus' Application m January 29, 1930. Serial No. 424,180,

posed principally of sawdust, wood chips and the like. Commercially it is the custom to convey sawdust, the dust from sanding machines, shavings and the like, in large factories from the wood working machines to bins from whence this accumulated material is fed to furnacesfor the purpose of producing power.

In-,the ty e of bins now used, the accumulated materlal including chips, shavings and This binxl ma be of-any suitable con- .struction and pre erably comprises the dowriwardly diver ing side walls and end walls 6 which are preferably suitably braced by angles 7.

or feeding the material to the furnace, the v bottom of the bin is provided with a lurality of screw conveyors8 arranged side y side and in such proximity to one another that they practically cover the entire bottom of the bin and which as shown in Fig. 3 are threaded right and left. These conveyors are driven in unison by a series of interconnected like material archesso that it does not feed igears 9 so that they move in unison or may to the bottom of the bin and on to the conveyors. This is particularly so where the material has a slight degree of moisture. Various expedients have been resorted to for preventing this arching and for breaking up the material so that it will feed by gravity to the bottom of the bin. g

It is oneof the objects of our invention to provide a structure for receiving material of the above type which will revent the arching of the material in the in and insure a constant downward -feeding of the material as the material is removed from the bottom of the bin.

For the purpose of disclosing our invention, we have illustrated a certain embodi= ment thereof in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation partially in section of a bin embodying our invention assoa5 ciated with a furnace;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof partially in section; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the bottom of the bin and,

Fig. 4 isa front elevation of the bin showing the drive mechanism schematically.

n the embodiment, thestorage bin 1 is mounted on any suitable supporting structure in front of and above the furnace, which structure may consistof a base 2 having suitable legs 3. The furnace may be any of the commercial furnaces provided with a boiler & and a firepit 5. The material'from the bin 1 is fed into the firepit 5 in accordance with the steani demands.

be, if desired, driven in a" series of groups". The conveyors move the material forward, from the bottom, into hop ers 11 located beneath the forward end-bf the bin and beneath a delivery 0 ening 12 extending across the bottontthereo In the present instance, We have shown two hoppers; although if desired, only one may be ovided, or if desired more than two maybe provided. Each hopper, at its bottom, is rovided with a screw conveyor 13 which w1ll move the material'forward in the hopper to'the delivery spout 14 terminating in the firepit. Located in this delivery spout is a rotary feeder 15, and each delivery spout may have a plurality of branches 16, as'shown in Fig. 2. 5 Due to the fact that the screw conveyors 8 covr practicall the entire bottom of\the bin, the materia is fed forwardly across the entire bottom and thereby the entire mass of material in the hop er is kept more or less agitated preventing the arching of the massed material so that, the whole bod of the material will dropas the materia is removed from the bottom of the mass, the continuous feeding of the material is thereby maintained. The feeding of the material is controlled by the speed at which the s crewprop'ellers 8 are driven and this'speed is controlled by the boiler pressure. To this end, we provide a variable speed transmission17 driven by a suitable power motor and in turn driving b means of the chain connections 18, the vanous screw propellers. This variable speed transmission may be of the type commonl known in the commercial art as the Reeves v variable speed transmission is shiftedin accordance with the steam ressure in the boiler by a pressure control mec anism 19 connected with the boiler in any suitable manner. 5 I claim as my invention the following 1 1. A refuse storage-bin having asubstantially flat bottom provided with a delivery opening extending substantially across the 'flatbottom o the bin, and means forfeeding the material in the bin across the" bottom of the bin toward said 0 ening, comprising a plurality of parallel c osely adjacent screw conveyors arranged ina lane parallel to and above. the bottom of the in and forming the sole support for the material, whereby the K coacting blades of adjacent screw conveyors produce a constant agitation of the material I in the lower portion of the bin. 7

.2. A refuse storage bin having a substantially flat bottom provided with a delivery opening extendin substantially across the flat bottom of the bin, and means for feeding the material in the bin across the bottom of the bin toward said opening, comprising I a lurality of agitating alternately right and le t threaded screw conveyors arranged in a plane parallel to and above the bottom of the and forming the sole support for the material, whereby the coacting blades of the adjacent screw conveyors produce a constant a 'tation of thematerial 1n the lower portion 0 the bins In witness whereof, we have hereunto set 1 our haniis at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 30th day of December, A. D, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine. p

NIGK T. PUCKETT. I -MAURICE ,A. ,HOFFT.

WALTER M. SQUIRES. 

